Iron protein electron transfer reactions

Electron carriers and electron-transfer proteins Electron-transfer reactions in photosynthesis involve electron carriers or electron-transfer proteins, including, among others, quinones, cytochromes, and iron-sulfur proteins. In the following, we present a summary of the carriers or associated proteins that are primarily involved in photosynthetic electron-transfer reactions, along with a listing in Fig. 20. Although ATP is not an electron carrier, it is included in the figure to remind us of the common components present in the structures of ATP and NAD(P) molecules [see Fig. 20 (A)]. 

The side chains of the 20 different amino acids listed in Panel 1.1 (pp. 6-7) have very different chemical properties and are utilized for a wide variety of biological functions. However, their chemical versatility is not unlimited, and for some functions metal atoms are more suitable and more efficient. Electron-transfer reactions are an important example. Fortunately the side chains of histidine, cysteine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid are excellent metal ligands, and a fairly large number of proteins have recruited metal atoms as intrinsic parts of their structures among the frequently used metals are iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. Several metallo proteins are discussed in detail in later chapters and it suffices here to mention briefly a few examples of iron and zinc proteins. 

The most conspicuous use of iron in biological systems is in our blood, where the erythrocytes are filled with the oxygen-binding protein hemoglobin. The red color of blood is due to the iron atom bound to the heme group in hemoglobin. Similar heme-bound iron atoms are present in a number of proteins involved in electron-transfer reactions, notably cytochromes. A chemically more sophisticated use of iron is found in an enzyme, ribo nucleotide reductase, that catalyzes the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, an important step in the synthesis of the building blocks of DNA. 

Iron-sulfur proteins. In an iroinsulfiir protein, the metal center is surrounded by a group of sulfur donor atoms in a tetrahedral environment. Box 14-2 describes the roles that iron-sulfur proteins play in nitrogenase, and Figure 20-30 shows the structures about the metal in three different types of iron-sulfur redox centers. One type (Figure 20-30a l contains a single iron atom bound to four cysteine ligands. The electron transfer reactions at these centers... 

C20-0073. Draw a crystal field splitting diagram that illustrates the electron transfer reaction of the simple iron redox protein shown in Figure 20-29a. 

The NO/NO+ and NO/NO- self-exchange rates are quite slow (42). Therefore, the kinetics of nitric oxide electron transfer reactions are strongly affected by transition metal complexes, particularly by those that are labile and redox active which can serve to promote these reactions. Although iron is the most important metal target for nitric oxide in mammalian biology, other metal centers might also react with NO. For example, both cobalt (in the form of cobalamin) (43,44) and copper (in the form of different types of copper proteins) (45) have been identified as potential NO targets. In addition, a substantial fraction of the bacterial nitrite reductases (which catalyze reduction of NO2 to NO) are copper enzymes (46). The interactions of NO with such metal centers continue to be rich for further exploration. 

Proteins containing iron-sulfur clusters are ubiquitous in nature, due primarily to their involvement in biological electron transfer reactions. In addition to functioning as simple reagents for electron transfer, protein-bound iron-sulfur clusters also function in catalysis of numerous redox reactions (e.g., H2 oxidation, N2 reduction) and, in some cases, of reactions that involve the addition or elimination of water to or from specific substrates (e.g., aconitase in the tricarboxylic acid cycle) (1). 

A condition where metal ions within a coordination complex or cluster are present in more than one oxidation state. In such systems, there is often complete delocalization of the valence electrons over the entire complex or cluster, and this is thought to facilitate electron-transfer reactions. Mixed valency has been observed in iron-sulfur proteins. Other terms for this behavior include mixed oxidation state and nonintegral oxidation state. 

FIGURE 19-9 IMADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I). Complex I catalyzes the transfer of a hydride ion from NADH to FMN, from which two electrons pass through a series of Fe-S centers to the iron-sulfur protein N-2 in the matrix arm of the complex. Electron transfer from N-2 to ubiquinone on the membrane arm forms QH2, which diffuses into the lipid bilayer. This electron transfer also drives the expulsion from the matrix of four protons per pair of electrons. The detailed mechanism that couples electron and proton transfer in Complex I is not yet known, but probably involves a Q cycle similar to that in Complex III in which QH2 participates twice per electron pair (see Fig. 19-12). Proton flux produces an electrochemical potential across the inner mitochondrial membrane (N side negative, P side positive), which conserves some of the energy released by the electron-transfer reactions. This electrochemical potential drives ATP synthesis. 

Heme coenzymes participate in a variety of electron-transfer reactions, including reactions of peroxides and 02. Iron-sulfur clusters, composed of Fe and S in equal numbers with cysteinyl side chains of proteins, mediate other electron-transfer processes, including the reduction of N2 to 2 NH3. Nicotinamide, flavin, and heme coenzymes act cooperatively with iron-sulfur proteins in multienzyme systems that catalyze hydroxylations of hydrocarbons and also in the transport of electrons from foodstuffs... 

We now see that mitochondria contain a variety of molecules—cytochromes, flavins, ubiquinone, and iron-sulfur proteins—all of which can act as electron carriers. To discuss how these carriers cooperate to transport electrons from reduced substrates to 02, it is useful to have a measure of each molecule s tendency to release or accept electrons. The standard redox potential, E°, provides such a measure. Redox potentials are thermodynamic properties that depend on the differences in free energy between the oxidized and reduced forms of a molecule. Like the electric potentials that govern electron flow from one pole of a battery to another, E° values are specified in volts. Because electron-transfer reactions frequently involve protons also, an additional symbol is used to indicate that an E° value applies to a particular pH thus, E° refers to an E° at pH 7. 

Each of these electron-transfer reactions is followed by rate-limiting dissociation of the iron protein, allowing access of H+ to the active site. 

The molar masses of the 2-oxoacid ferredoxin oxidoreductases are 200,000-300,000 g/mol and they are composed of four subunits of the kind a2p2. It has been shown that halobacteria have only these systems of 2-oxoacid ferredoxin oxidoreductases. The two enzymes of H. halobium (pyruvate and oxoglutarate) were isolated and characterized by Kerscher and Oesterhelt (1981a). These systems proved to be thiamin diphosphate-containing iron-sulfur proteins. The relative stability of the halobacterial enzymes enabled detailed analysis of the various steps of the catalytic cycles (Kerscher and Oesterhelt, 1981b), demonstrating two distinct steps of one-electron transfer reactions. 

Rajagukguk S, Yang S, Yu C-A, Yu L, Durham B, Millett F. Effect of mutations in the cytochrome b of loop on the electron-transfer reactions of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein in the cytochrome bcl complex. Biochemistry 2007 46 1791-8. 

Cytochrome c, a small heme protein (mol wt 12,400) is an important member of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. In this chain it assists in the transport of electrons from organic substrates to oxygen. In the course of this electron transport the iron atom of the cytochrome is alternately oxidized and reduced. Oxidation-reduction reactions are thus intimately related to the function of cytochrome c, and its electron transfer reactions have therefore been extensively studied. The reagents used to probe its redox activity range from hydrated electrons (I, 2, 3) and hydrogen atoms (4) to the complicated oxidase (5, 6, 7, 8) and reductase (9, 10, 11) systems. This chapter is concerned with the reactions of cytochrome c with transition metal complexes and metalloproteins and with the electron transfer mechanisms implicated by these studies. 

Tian, H., White, S., Yu, L., and Yu, C. A., 1999, Evidence for the head domain movement of the rieske iron-sulfur protein in electron transfer reaction of the cytochrome bcl complex, J. Biol. Chem. 274 7146n7152. 

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